Middlesex seeks state takeover of Wake ramp

County wants help with Mill Creek Landing silt

The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) directed County Administrator Matt Walker to go back to Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) officials and encourage them to take back over the maintenance responsibilities of Mill Creek boat ramp at Wake. The directive came at supervisors July 9 regular monthly meeting.

Currently the boat ramp is being dredged once or twice a year by the county and mostly by volunteer contractors. Owners of the land and boat ramp, Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and DWR, have thrown up their hands and made it clear they no longer intend to spend state funds to keep the boat ramp open.

The county hired the Middle Peninsula Regional Planning District Commission (MPRPDC) in 2022 to come up with a plan to slow down the sand build up at the ramp. MPRPDC was awarded a grant from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Community Flood Preparedness Fund covering $26,400 of the design work and the county covering $17,600 as the local match towards the effort. The final plan has not been presented to the county and has not gone out to bid, yet.

The firm of Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc. was hired with the grant funds. The firm came up with an $887,000 estimated fix that would extend maintenance dredging at the site to four to five years rather than one to two times a year. The plan has not been presented to the board.

Walker suggested that before the county moves forward on the matter to let him contact DCR and request the agency reconsider and start maintaining the site again. If DCR rejects the plan, then the board recommended that Walker take the matter to the General Assembly to gain support that would require DCR to maintain the site. “If that all fails, then we will take a look at what we (as a county) will do to keep it open,” said Walker.